Comparison : Cisco 2960-X Vs Cisco 3650 Vs Cisco 3850 Vs Juniper EX3400
Today I am going to talk about the comparison between the Cisco and the Juniper Switches for the access layer. Access layer is the layer where you are going to connect the users. The users can be the laptops/computers, servers, printers and many more.
In this article I am going to talk about the Access layer switch of Cisco ( Cisco 2960X, Cisco 3650, Cisco 3850) and Juniper (EX3400) Switch. We can compare the features of the switches with each other.
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| Fig 1.1- Cisco Vs Juniper |
As of now on the switching front, Cisco leads the market with the best quality of the switches in Campus as well as in the datacenter portfolio followed by Arista Networks and Juniper anyhow.
I will talk about some of the features of Cisco switch Cisco 2960-X/XR. Cisco Catalyst 2960-X and 2960-XR Series Switches feature
Cisco 2960-X/XR catalyst Switches
- We can have two options, you can opt for 24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports with line-rate forwarding performance
- It can support with 4 fixed 1 Gigabit Ethernet Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) uplinks or 2 fixed 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ uplinks
- Well with PoE+ support with a power budget of up to 740W and Perpetual PoE
- You can integrate with Network management with Cisco Prime, Cisco Network Plug and Play, and Cisco DNA Center
- Stacking with FlexStack-Plus and FlexStack-Extended
- Layer 3 features with routed access (Open Shortest Path First [OSPF]), static routing, and Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
- Visibility with Domain Name System as an Authoritative Source (DNS-AS) and Full (Flexible) NetFlow
- Security with 802.1X, Serial Port Analyzer (SPAN) and Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) Guard
Now let's talk about Cisco 3650 Switch
Cisco 3650 catalyst Switches
- 24 and 48 10/100/1000 data and PoE+ models with energy-efficient Ethernet (EEE) supported ports
- Five fixed-uplink models with four Gigabit Ethernet, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet, four 10 Gigabit Ethernet, eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet, or two 40 Gigabit Ethernet Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (QSFP+) ports
- 24-port and 48-port 10/100/1000 PoE+ models with lower noise and reduced depth of 11.62 inches for shallow depth cabinets in enterprise, retail, and branch-office environments
- Optional Cisco StackWise-160 technology that provides scalability and resiliency with 160 Gbps of stack throughput
- Dual redundant, modular power supplies and three modular fans providing redundancy
- Support for external power system RPS 2300 on the 3650 mini SKUs for power redundancy
- Full IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) with 30W power on all ports in 1 rack unit (RU) form factor
- Cisco UPOE with 60W power per port in 1 rack unit (RU) form factor
- Software support for IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast routing, modular QoS, Flexible NetFlow (FNF) Version 9, and enhanced security features
Now Lets talk about some of the features of Cisco 3850 Switch
Cisco 3850 catalyst Switches
- 24 and 48 10/100/1000Mbps data PoE+ and Cisco UPOE models with Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) and you can have 24 and 48 100Mbps/1/2.5/5/10 Gbps Cisco UPOE models with Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE)
- 12- and 24-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet SFP-based models or 12- and 24-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+-based models
- 48-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ model with 4 fixed 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ uplinks
- Cisco StackWise-480 technology provides scalability and resiliency with 480 Gbps of stack throughput and Cisco StackPower technology provides power stacking among stack members for power redundancy
- Five optional uplink modules with 4 x Gigabit Ethernet, 2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 4 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 8 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet4, or 2 x 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ ports
- Dual redundant, modular power supplies and three modular fans providing redundancy
- Full IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) with 30W power on all copper ports in 1 Rack Unit (RU) form factor and Cisco UPOE with 60W power per port in 1 Rack Unit (RU) form factor
Some of the specifications on Juniper EX3400 Switch as :
Juniper EX3400 Switches
- 24-port and 48-port models with and without Power over Ethernet (PoE/PoE+) are for campus wiring closet deployments.
- Data center-optimised cooling options offer both front-to-back and back-to-front airflows, making the EX3400 suitable for GbE data center access deployments.
- Two redundant, field-replaceable power supplies each provide up to 920 watts of power.
- 24-port data center models are included for metro deployments.
- Four dual-mode (GbE/10GbE) small form-factor pluggable transceiver (SFP/SFP+) uplink ports and two 40GbE QSFP+ ports are available.
- Uplink ports can be configured as Virtual Chassis interfaces and connected via standard 10GbE/40GbE optic interfaces (40GbE uplink ports are preconfigured by default as Virtual Chassis ports).
- Comprehensive Layer 2 functionality with RIP and static routing is provided an compact, 13.8-inch deep 1 U form factor supports flexible deployment options.
- An easy-to-manage solution includes centralized software upgrades and a single management interface.
Below is the comparison between these switches on some of the features to get it in your access layer
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| Fig 1.2- Juniper Vs Cisco Switches Features |
